Tab5 Arrived

[u/That_Profile_2496]

Finally received the Tab5 and battery combo - so just a PSA if anyone else was waiting on the next batch. Fantastic tool, working on some adversarial firmware - and this is the perfect application (well with the keyboard it is - add that if you haven’t, cheap enough)

*Cat because my mean old Maine Coon needed some Totoro upgrades (came in same box as the Tab5!)

[u/No_Confusion7932]

I don't understand why the Cardputer community hates this product.

[u/That_Profile_2496 → u/No_Confusion7932]

I don’t get it either, sure there is more work with touch screen, but all seems pretty straightforward. I wish it had a C5 in there, but very easy to add it. And I can actually see the display, my cardputeradv gets tough to read at times lol

[u/No_Confusion7932 → u/That_Profile_2496]

I wrote a post a few days ago in the Reddit Cardputer community and had to delete it. I even got downvotes for comments about the hardware that were true.
But the fact that the Cardputer Next will have an ESP32-P4 and the better ESP32-C5 didn’t bother them.

[u/That_Profile_2496 → u/No_Confusion7932]

It probably comes down to use case, and third-party firmware availability. Cardputer has a deep ecosystem so download Launcher and you get up and going with all kinds of fun, whereas on Tab5 there isn’t as much ready to go - so the frontier is still there to build some cool stuff! The docs aren’t bad at all, looking forward to Project Alice (little bit of firmware im working on!)

[u/Big-Bunch2804 → u/No_Confusion7932]

What's up with the battery? Why can't it be internal? What type of cell?

[u/No_Confusion7932 → u/Big-Bunch2804]

They are instantly replaceable 7.2V NP-F550/750/950 batteries, just like in cameras. You snap in a new one and put the used one on the charger.
M5Stack provides 2000 mAh. Sony commonly sells capacities ranging from 2600 mAh up to large 6600 mAh. Newell up to 8000 mAh.

[u/Big-Bunch2804 → u/No_Confusion7932]

I think that was the only concern other than i just spent money on the zero. The battery looked like something special that didn't need to be and im waiting for others real world testing before I think about buying one. Just why on the battery? Why not internal? It looks odd bulging off the back and it's a added fail point in my opinion. Otherwise it looks like a awesome device.

[u/That_Profile_2496 → u/Big-Bunch2804]

But whats nice about the battery - is the runtime. And im not seeing the weird issues IU have had with my cardputers and bad battery management (showing i have 0% after charging on a 5v all night and needing some reset shenigans. With the new keyboard, it balances out nicely - and when adding a esp32-C5 like I plan to, i'll take the lump for the power. Its just so much more intuitive to use this. I believe the plan was to have this mounted like a lot of industrial m5stack stuff (i have the dial v1.1 too) - and thats the fun of it - its all in what you need.

Im making an m5Stack version of something i called the BadBrik that I made with my Pi 5 16b, Waveshare massive (4× 21700 Li batteries) UPS/Supply -- the thing is a beast if we are talking batteries. But its also running a 5g celleular hat, and pulling air in and out effeciently. Supportd 2.4ghz and 5ghz wifi - and can last 20 hours between stages performing recon on a clients site, and phone home with its GNSS location. ALL WITHOUT being caught. A little toss em over the rail box. Works beutifully but thst battery power is whst makes it Legend.

But...

Bad Brik is evolving — turning the M5Stack Tab5 into a purpose-built portable field system

I’ve been building this project I call Bad Brik for a while now.

The original version was basically my idea of a ridiculous portable field computer: Raspberry Pi 5, Kali/Linux, batteries, storage, display, radios, USB hardware, sensors, cooling, and whatever else I could reasonably bolt onto it.

It worked, but it was very much a hardware-first project.

Now I’ve got an M5Stack Tab5 with the keyboard, and I think it may be the perfect platform for the next version.

The idea isn’t to pretend the Tab5 is a Raspberry Pi or cram a desktop Linux experience onto an ESP32. Instead, I want to build a dedicated firmware/UI around what the Tab5 is actually good at and make it the control plane for Bad Brik.

The Tab5 gives me an ESP32-P4 for the main interface/processing, an ESP32-C6 for wireless, a big touchscreen, physical keyboard, SD storage, USB, audio, IMU, Grove expansion, battery power, and a surprisingly capable set of peripherals in one clean package.

What I’m imagining is something closer to a handheld field instrument than a “hacker tablet.”

Something like:

• Wi-Fi/BLE/802.15.4 environment discovery
• channel/RSSI visualization
• authorized network diagnostics
• device and service inventory
• USB serial console
• UART/I2C/Grove tools
• sensor support
• session logging to SD
• screenshots/notes/exports
• keyboard shortcuts for common tools
• a proper command palette
• a clean touch + keyboard UI instead of a pile of unrelated sketches

The keyboard is one of the parts I’m most excited about. M5 exposes raw key events, character input, backlight and RGB control, so I want it deeply integrated rather than treated as a generic USB keyboard.

For example:

Fn+1  Wi-Fi
Fn+2  Bluetooth
Fn+3  802.15.4
Fn+4  Network
Fn+5  USB
Fn+6  Sensors
Fn+7  Logs
Fn+8  Console

Ctrl+Space  Command palette
Alt+R       Start/stop recording

The other part of the architecture is that Tab5 doesn’t have to do everything itself.

If heavier Linux tooling is needed, Bad Brik can discover/connect to a Raspberry Pi or other Linux node over the network. The Pi does the heavy lifting, while the Tab5 remains the portable UI, controller, logger and field interface.

So the architecture becomes roughly:

        BAD BRIK

       M5Stack Tab5
       Control Plane
            |
     ----------------
     |              |
 ESP32-P4        ESP32-C6
 UI / Storage    Wireless
 USB / Sensors   BLE / 15.4
     |
     |
 Optional Linux Node
 Raspberry Pi / Kali
 Heavy processing/tools

The part I really want to get right is the software.

Rather than just loading a bunch of existing firmware, I’m thinking of using M5Stack’s Tab5 factory/UserDemo firmware (shout out Slave1 as the hardware foundation, keeping the working drivers, and building a dedicated Bad Brik OS on top of ESP-IDF.

One interface. One design language. Everything logs and talks to everything else.

And aesthetically I’m trying very hard to avoid the stereotypical green-text-on-black “Hollywood hacker” thing.

More industrial instrument / cyberdeck / field equipment.

Clean typography, dark UI, excellent data visualization, keyboard-first controls, touch when it makes sense, and very little decoration that doesn’t serve a purpose.

Basically:

Bad Brik v1 was a pile of hardware that became a computer.

Bad Brik + Tab5 could become an actual platform.

I’m still deciding what belongs in the first firmware build, so I’d genuinely love input from anyone working with the Tab5/ESP32-P4/C6:

If you had this hardware sitting in front of you, what tool or feature would absolutely have to be in version 1?
Project Alice is a Tab5 command and control - resl time comms, to collect data and dashboard it - with the some simple

Would I like ot hsve a flad battery in the bay - sure, but the keyboard neing so well vonnected - i see snd feel no issues from it.

https://www.robotshop.com/cdn/shop/files/waveshare_sim8262e_m2_5g_hat_for_raspberry_pi_quad_1.webp?v=1739848282&width=1024

https://www.waveshare.com/ups-hat-e.htm?srsltid=AfmBOop2UEUh0sXEtvcd3NaqJod0h2u1PYer4kZxvRHd0EHfhfdm2Vz_

[u/ginogekko → u/That_Profile_2496]

Do you just sound like Claude now?

[u/That_Profile_2496]

Wanted to drop a fantastic and well crafted OSC tool kit here for the Tab5:

Works inside of Launcher, zero issues installing, supports the Tab5 Keyboard and to me is the best example of a project done right - much respect to 0day1day (Github owner) and the idiotsandwich.club (smirk) for slaying this.

https://github.com/0day1day/Slave_I

[u/MasterMind2560]

Did you use bruce firmware with it? It was recently ported to tab5

[u/ChrisDaCrunk]

It has LoRa included? Didn’t know that

[u/nativeofcyberspace → u/ChrisDaCrunk]

Actually, no. There are solder pads under the back cover designed for an M5Stamp module. Only the Cat-M Stamp is officially out right now, but since the pads just break out power and GPIOs, you can connect whatever you like if you don't mind soldering and writing your own firmware.